[scifan] plantation - books one to three
Page 47
I walk away allowing him time and space to decide. I know there’s a good chance he will try to
escape. I’m willing to take that chance. My legacy will not be brutality only. Every enemy has a heart and a soul. I will not fear my enemies, I will attempt to understand them.
I’m not going to hide any more. From now on, it’s war until every child is freed. If our side
wins, we will build a bridge that will unite humanity with all beings willing to embrace forgiveness
and charity.
*
“YOU DID IT AGAIN,” Damian says as he steps out of the shadows of the trees.
“How do you do that every time?” I say. “One of these days I’ll accidentally zap you to
oblivion.”
“My skin is thick. Nothing can hurt me,” he says with a wink.
I turn on a light beam to study his face in the darkness of the forest.
“When did you get here? And what are you blabbering on about?”
“You saved a dead man,” he says. “Or should I say a dead Sliman?”
“There is light even in the darkest soul,” I say. “Why are you here?”
“I came to see you.”
He says this simply and honestly. It’s been a long time since things were simple and honest
between us. I can ask him a lot of unimportant things, like who flew him to the base, how he knows
about my decision to free Zolkon or why he left his post at the military training camp in the first place.
I choose to stay silent. If he wants to talk to me, I’ll give him the space to do so.
“I’m thinking that maybe I should live with the Dark Legion,” he says.
“Still searching for a place to belong?”
“No, I know where I belong now,” he says. “It’s just that belonging isn’t always an option.”
I grab his hand and push him down to the damp earth. I sit beside him and study his features
looking for clues to the mystery he presents to me.
“Quit talking in riddles,” I say. “Tell me what you mean.”
“How is this going to end, Freya?” he says. “I won’t cause you any more uncertainty and
disappointment. It’s better I am where I am needed, where I can make a difference.”
“You always make a difference, Damian, wherever you go,” I tell him. “There is nothing but
good in you.”
His smile is bitter and short-lived.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he says. “It’s happening. I feel it. It was inevitable, I guess, if you
think about it. I was able to change the consistency of my skin the other day. I’m finally turning into a Sliman, Freya. Mind and body.”
I take his face in my hands and look into his eyes. “There are worse things to be. Believe me, I
met her.”
“I don’t see how we can stop it,” he says.
“You will still be Damian. Your heart will be fierce and loyal. You are capable of more than
you know. You are special and powerful and strong. Find something you believe in, and you can
change into anything you want. The power is within you. I feel it.”
He runs his fingers through his hair. Then he covers his face with both hands. Whatever it is that
is weighing him down, I welcome it. Because in this moment when he thinks the Sliman inside him
will win the war, he’s the most human he has been in a long while.
“There’s only been one time I believed in anything,” he whispers. “When I knew beyond the
shadow of a doubt what mattered. When my brain wasn’t screaming at me that I was in the wrong
place at the wrong time, that I did not belong. Once in all my life.”
I have heard this passion in his voice before. I try to move away but it’s too late. He takes my
hand and pulls me closer. His fingers trace my face then mess with my hair. They tickle my neck and
then stop on my lips.
“And it wasn’t the Sliman in me,” he says. “I know it now. It was all you.” He stares into my
eyes for a moment before he kisses me. I am caught in his revelation like a star in the night sky. I long ago gave up on the idea of him coming back to me, yet now that we kiss it feels like we’ve never been
apart.
When he unbuttons his shirt, I am finally awakened from the spell. I pull away but then I see all
the scars on his body. The scar on his right arm when he got shot in front of me. The scars on his
shoulder where the drone tentacles pierced his skin. The pink scar on the right side of his chest from when he saved Tobi.
I reach out and touch those scars that would not have been there if he had never met me. He pulls
me closer to him and as I feel his skin against mine, my insanity returns. I want him now more than
ever.
“You as good as handed me over to Finn last week,” I say. “Why are you doing this now? You
said that I should have a life with him.”
“I did. But I’m not asking for a life with you. Just for this night.”
“It’s wrong,” I say weakly knowing I have already lost the battle.
“Daphne was right,” he says. “We should never be together. Too much combustible energy is
produced when we get close.”
“Yet, you’re trying to get close to me tonight.”
“I think the world can handle one night,” he says.
I have to be wise and strong if I am to lead a revolution. But tonight is not about revolution.
Tonight all that I want is to help him heal.
*
SECTOR ONE IS ALMOST EMPTY. Everyone’s over at Sector Three where there is a
presentation of the new security and shielding systems as well as footage from Spring Town and the
Dark Legion encampments.
I don’t need to be there for that. It’s only been two days since I returned from the encampments
and I was able to witness everything first hand. Pip and I have brought Tobi to the playground which
is no more than a set of swings and a see-saw on a bunch of fake, padded grass. No matter, Tobi
loves being here and so does Pip who can’t pull herself away from the swings.
I sit on the fake grass with my touchpad in hand trying to untangle the overlapping mess of my
upcoming meetings and travels. There’s so much on my schedule, I’d need three lives to get through it
all. I have to find some room for personal time or I will lose perspective.
I have to spend time with Zoe and all the girls. I have to try and patch things up with Ella. I have
to spend more time with the commander who seems to be rather fond of me now. The list gets longer
and longer and I’m about to give up when Finn shows up.
“Taking a break?” I ask him.
“I thought you might like this,” he says and produces a bouquet of white roses from behind his
back.
“Where on earth did you find these?” I exclaim. Exodus L21 has a lot of wonderful lettuce,
broccoli and spinach plants but flowers aren’t exactly a priority.
“Joshua brought a bunch,” he says, “and I kind of stole these from him.”
I take in the sweet fragrance of the roses. Pip comes over and I pull two roses from the bunch to
give to her.
“Freya,” she says, “now that Finn has given you roses, does it mean you will marry him?”
I just about choke on my own spit. Finn bursts out laughing.
“What did I say?” Pip says. “It’s not funny. People get married all the time on the station.”
“We’re different people, Pip,” I say. “Such things don’t cross our minds.”
I look at Finn. “Can you stop laughing, please? The thought of me getting married should not be
&nbs
p; that amusing.”
“Come on, Freya. As if you would ever submit to any man,” he says and gets up. “I’m supposed
to be at work right now. See you girls later.”
“Let’s go back, too,” I tell Pip after he’s gone. I put my touchpad back in my pocket but as I get
up, the receptor rolls out of my other pocket and falls right onto Tobi’s lap.
I lean over to take it back but stop cold in my tracks when I see the receptor coming alive in his
little hands, humming and buzzing like it’s exactly where it belongs.
I cover Toby up in his blanket and type a message on my touchpad to be delivered immediately.
Three simple words. “I need you.”
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading the Plantation Series (Books 1-3).
You can get Book 4 (BEYOND THE RIVER OF TIME) here
DAPHNE (a PLANTATION novella) is now also available. Get it here
Book 5 (THE RISE OF THE SAVIORS) coming March 2014
If you’d like to hear when I’ve got a new book out, you can sign up for my mailing list. The only emails you will receive from me will be for new releases and free downloads.
I would love to hear from you! You can find me at:
Blog: Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons
Facebook: Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons
Twitter: @plantationworld
You can also e-mail me with comments, questions or just to say “hello” and I will respond as quickly
as possible:
mailto:plantation@stellasliterarybistro.com
UK Links:
Beyond the River of Time
Daphne
Document Outline
THE PLANTATION
THE DARK LEGION
THE SHADOW EMPIRE
FROM THE AUTHOR
Table of Contents
THE PLANTATION
THE DARK LEGION
THE SHADOW EMPIRE
FROM THE AUTHOR
Table of Contents
THE PLANTATION
THE DARK LEGION
THE SHADOW EMPIRE
FROM THE AUTHOR